Current Events
by bugsuit
Summary: An alternate take on the incident at Origin Cave and what happens after, with the excuse that I wanted way more tooth-rotting friendship than I got. In progress.
1. taking the plunge

"I don't want to talk, Max. Leave me be awhile."

The Magma leader didn't move. At his sides, his hands curled into uncharacteristic fists - so far the only tell that his composure was cracking. "Archie. This isn't the time."

Archie said nothing. He just kept staring out at the storm, shoulders braced against the gale and his bandana tugged down a little further to shield his eyes from the downpour of rain. He was in a bad way, this much Maxie could tell, but... something had to be done, didn't it?

"Archie..."

"I called her, Maxie. My job is... I'm done. If you're about to gloat-"

"Archie! If you have any semblance of sense you'll stop moping around and take matters seriously!"

"Seriously?" He fixed his rival with a hollow glare. "You think I'm not taking this _seriously,_ do you?"

"I think you're acting far more like a child than the one who just walked through those doors!" Maxie snapped, not to be deterred. But then that had always been why they made such good rivals, hadn't it? Maxie had never been afraid of him. _Mountains don't yield._ "That girl needs our help, Archie. She needs _you."_

"Are you out of your _mind?_ I was the one who caused all this mess! I don't deserve-"

"Look around, Archie!" He swept his arm out at Sootopolis and the raging weather. Even the huge, ancient tree was struggling against the gale force wind, a few terrified bird Pokemon finding little shelter in its branches. "Does this look like the time for you to be having a breakdown? Is this a question of who deserves what? If you feel so terrible, _do_ something!" He faltered, feeling momentarily overshadowed as Archie glowered back at him. With one shaking hand, he angrily whipped off his glasses - couldn't see out of them, anyway, in all this rain - and leaned in with a lowered voice. "As rival to rival. As... whatever we used to be. This isn't a task fair to give to a child, and I... _we,_ Team Magma, can't do much for her. You have to try."

It was a moment or two before Archie turned to look in the direction of Origin Cave, the great stone doors still open to the elements. It was even longer before he replied, and his voice sounded small. Archie had never sounded small before, and Maxie nearly winced. "She's got the suit. What can I do?"

The answer came from his left, quiet and encouraging.

"You can swim, boss." Archie dared himself to look at her, and she waved her hand. "Well, that's _one_ thing you have on Maxie, anyway! Just because you aren't the one wearing the fancy Aqua Suit doesn't mean you can't at least get partway through that cave! And since when was it Aqua policy to just _give up?"_

"Shelly..." He trailed off. "Team Aqua... I think it's time-"

"No," she interrupted quickly, before he could finish the thought. "You're right! Hah... That's not a policy at all - it's just what you taught us. Giving up isn't what you do, boss." She hesitated only for a moment, then forced herself to put on a wide grin, and clapped him heartily on the shoulder - something he'd done to all of them, countless times, and usually just barely managed not to break anybody. Shelly's smack didn't even make him flinch. "So, stop acting like a weak and helpless landlubber! Listen, if you're that scared of Legendary Pokemon, maybe I'll go beat you to the punch!"

Maxie stared at them both, momentarily caught off-guard, and then it clicked. He stepped forwards and put his glasses back on, ignoring the sightlessness this afforded him, and smirked. "For once, I can agree with your associate." He folded his hands neatly behind his back and snapped his heels together, adopting his usual calculating tone, as if nothing was wrong. As if the sky wasn't literally falling down around them. "If you won't rise to the challenge, perhaps I will. Won't that put a damper on your plans, Archie, if Team Magma were to acquire Kyogre instead? Anyway, perhaps..." He sobered a little, adjusting his glasses. "Perhaps we could all go together."

Archie stared at them, his eyes flicking back and forth, before his gaze finally settled back on the cave entrance behind them.

His expression hardened with determination.

And then all hell broke loose.

 _"Get down!"_

Archie flung his arms around Shelly and Maxie and instinctively threw them all sideways - right as an eruption of water surged from the Sootopolis lake, exploding in all directions as Kyogre burst upwards with a deafening call. They hit the lake right as the Pokemon slammed down on the bridge they had all been standing on just moments before, splintering it to pieces.

For a moment after the plunge, all they could do was cling to each other in the tide, Maxie clapping his hands over his mouth to prevent himself from shouting out the contents of his lungs - and a huge dark shadow passed overhead.

Too shocked to react, the sinking trio watched as the shimmering blue and red behemoth thrashed its huge flippers and pushed through the water effortlessly, making a beeline for the city's underwater exit. Something small and person-shaped was knocked off the thrashing Pokemon's back and sank, motionless, into the depths.

Realising he was still holding onto Shelly and Maxie (who had closed his eyes), Archie tightened his grip on them both and suddenly kicked for the surface.

With Shelly's help, they made it up to the air, the Magma Leader spluttering and coughing, and Archie pulled out a Pokeball. "There - there must have been an underwater exit. Shelly. Take the landlubber to shore. I'll fetch the scamp." Sharpedo emerged in a flash of white, and gnashed its teeth expectantly as Archie grabbed hold of its fin.

Still spitting salt water, Maxie flailed clumsily when Shelly grabbed hold of his coat lapels.

"Boss, wait!"

Archie glanced back at her, his fierce look made all the darker by the X-shape daubed across his face.

Shelly swallowed whatever objection she'd been about to voice. "...Good luck."

The corners of his mouth twitched upwards slightly in acknowledgement, and he turned back to his mission. "Sharpedo, let's go!"

The Pokemon dove, taking Archie with it, and a rush of bubbles let them know its jets had burst into action.

"Is - is he going to make it?" Maxie rushed out as he recovered. "That - that's very deep-"

Shelly tugged him along with her as she struck out for shore, and tried not to think too hard about it. It _was_ deep. "Honestly!" she huffed anyway. "Don't be insulting. Archie's the strongest swimmer I know. What, you think the leader of Team Aqua can't hold his breath?" It was _true,_ anyway. "Our leader knows what he's doing." Lately, she suspected, less true. But that wasn't relevant to Maxie's question.

The two instinctively turned to look at each other. Shelly's normally unruly hair was pasted thinly against her face and spread out like seaweed in the water around her neck. Maxie's shorter hair wasn't much better, and his glasses had managed to get knocked askew.

"He'll be fine," Shelly insisted.

"I-I know," Maxie snapped irritably. "I was merely - I meant it only in the sense-"

"Get yourself out of the water. I'm going after him."

"Don't be a fool!" He grabbed her shoulder, taking an uneven gasp as the motion unsteadied him in the water. "It's too late for that. Either he's fine, or... or he isn't," he finished firmly. "Rushing after him... you'd be making more trouble. All we can do now is hope."

Unwilling to tear their eyes off the water, Maxie and Shelly slowly began to climb up out of the waves. Maxie was the first to make it, and he offered his hand to pull the Aqua admin up after him. The two stood in the pouring rain, side by side, and waited.

* * *

 _Always knew you were stubborn, scampo._

Underwater, things almost felt peaceful - the water plants waved gently back and forth in the current, and Magikarp swam past in oblivious shoals. The world down here was barely touched by the storm above, but Archie knew better.

A small blue figure lay motionless on the lakebed, a Magikarp nibbling vacantly on her foot and a patch of waterweed rippling against the suit's helm and obscuring her face. Beside her sat the faintly-glowing Red Orb, resting where it had rolled out of her limp hand.

Sharpedo brought him closer, and despite his aching lungs, Archie forced himself to be slow and careful when lifting the girl from her resting place. She was weightless in the water, and as he pulled her loose of the tangling weeds, he very nearly gasped.

There was a tiny trickle of blood making its way down her face from her hairline. But, as he focused, he thought he could see the faint mist of breath against the visor.

Archie hooked one arm around her and held on tight to Sharpedo's fin with the other. The Pokemon gripped the Red Orb carefully between its teeth. Archie jerked his head upwards to indicate that they should head for the surface, and his Pokemon complied immediately. They'd practiced a thousand times - _surface too quickly, and your body won't thank you_ \- and the going was agonisingly slow. Despite his goals, after all, he was only human, and his lungs were beginning to burn. All the practice in the world wouldn't work miracles.

Quite rightly interpreting the tightening grip on its fin as a twinge of panic, Sharpedo activated its jets. There wasn't far to go, anyway.

They breached with a cough and a desperate gasp from Archie, and he had to spend several seconds catching his breath and waiting for the ringing in his ears to die down before he even realised Sharpedo had brought them to shore.

"Isn't that the leader of Team Aqua?"

"That scared the heck out of me!"

"Who's that with him?"

"Stay back! That Pokemon's teeth look sharp!"

Archie took a deep breath, willing his body to recover faster, and with a quick movement he let go of Sharpedo and made a grab for the shore instead. The small crowd shuffled backwards to give him space, wary of his reputation, but he wasn't interested in making nice. "Someone, take her!"

"Is that a girl?"

"Who is that? A member of his team?"

Murmurs of confusion spread through the crowd, but - thank the high seas - a woman urged her husband forwards to gingerly pull the girl up.

"Oh, heavens - is she bleeding?"

"How do you get this thing off?"

Hauling himself onto the shore and rising swiftly to his feet, Archie didn't even have to wave them off - they withdrew immediately, and he fell to his knees beside her, fumbling with the lock mechanism on the Aqua Suit's helmet and releasing it with a short hiss.

"Scampo? You hear me?" He leaned in close - yes, she was breathing. No need to check for a pulse. She was alive. _You remember first aid, what was the protocol-?_ "Scamp?"

"Her head's all bloody," a boy pointed out helpfully.

Archie very carefully parted her hair with his fingers and peered at the damage. "...Just a bump," he muttered. _I hope it's just a bump. From the suit. That's all it can be._ He patted her cheek gently, leaning over her to shield her from the rain. "You're fine. Wake up and tell me you're fine, scamp."

Nothing.

"May?"

Her face scrunched up.

"You smell like seaweed."

Archie flinched backwards, eyes wide in surprise, and then rocked back onto his haunches. He let out a relieved sigh, running his hand up over his forehead to sweep off his bandana and ruffle through his hair. "Aye," he said. "I expect I do."

May eased open one eye and peered at him, raising an eyebrow. "Where's Kyogre?"

Archie smiled down at her, giving silent thanks to whatever luck had gotten them here, and shook his head. "Swam off. Can you sit, scampo?"

May took the hand she was offered and gingerly pushed herself up into a seated position, closing her eyes again for a moment against the head rush that ensued. "Dizzy."

"Must've banged your head when Kyogre hit the bridge." He paused, glancing down. She was still holding tightly to his hand. "How... how are..."

"I'm okay," she replied quickly, lifting her other hand and mentally counting the fingers to test this theory for sure. "...I'm fine. Can you help me up? We have to go after it."

The crowd, so far silenced by the scene playing out in front of them, murmured amongst themselves. A woman (the earlier man's wife) stepped out to offer May a second helping hand, and aided Archie in pulling the girl to her feet.

"Sweetie, what happened? Did this man recruit you or something?"

"What?" She blinked awkwardly, and then burst out laughing. Archie turned away, scratching awkwardly at his beard. "No, no! I'm not a part of Team Aqua. We're just... um... This is kind of bigger than that," she finished. "We're going after Kyogre."

Archie gave her a sharp look.

"Well, we _are._ Your Sharpedo is fast, right?"

"I..."

"Young lady, I'm afraid I cannot allow you in good faith to run off with him, especially in this weather. And in your condition! Team Aqua is-"

"Okay by me," May interrupted. "Sort of." She flashed the Aqua Leader a determined smile. "I'm going. And if he wants to come too, I don't think anyone here could stop him!"

"That may be overselling him a little, don't you think?" The crowd parted with a ripple of surprised muttering, and Wallace approached them both - followed by Steven Stone, then Maxie and Shelly. He put his hands on his hips, smiling faintly. "The Champion and I saw from the west path."

"When we saw that Primal Kyogre had left the cave the same way it entered, we had concerns," Steven explained, pinning Archie with an unreadable look. "Especially when you went after it. But it looks like you had good intentions. May, are you feeling alright? Your head is injured."

She nodded quickly, and - to Archie's apparent shock - took a step back, to his side. "I'm fine. The Aqua Suit kept me safe. Archie's going to take me to Kyogre."

"I... Scamp, I don't think-"

"Well, unless someone else has a Sharpedo. Um... Shelly?"

The Admin stared back at her in surprise for a second before shaking her head, flicking water from her hair. "Not as strong or fast as Archie's. He _is_ Leader for a reason, you know."

"Then, let's go! There's no time to waste - Primal Kyogre could be anywhere!"

As another wave of uncertainty ran through the Sootopolitans, Steven frowned and opened his mouth to speak - but Wallace beat him to it.

"Well, then... You'll be needing some help. Steven, can your Skarmory take this storm? They'll be needing some air support, I think."

"...Yes," the Champion replied. "I suppose there's no sense in trying to pull May out of this now." He nodded. "Do you still have the Red Orb?"

"Right here!" May whirled around, crouching by the water's edge and reaching without fear towards the Sharpedo's mouth. It relinquished the Orb easily, and she patted it on its sandpapery nose before turning to brandish the object in the air. "Archie? Are you ready to do this?"

He looked at her. Then he looked over at Shelly and Archie. The former smiled, and the latter gave a faint, encouraging nod.

"...Aye. I suppose I am." Archie realised he was still holding his bandana, and threw it aside to free up his hands. "Let's go, scampo. We have a big mistake to fix."

"Good luck," Maxie interjected. "As none of my Pokemon are suited to this task, I must leave this in your hands. But I will be monitoring things closely. If you need me, I will be there."

"As Gym Leader, I'm to stay and protect Sootopolis - though of course the same rule applies. If you can't do it without me, I will rush to the rescue!" Wallace smiled confidently. "However, I have a feeling you can all hold your own. Good luck."

May nodded - and, wordlessly, turned and sat down to slip herself into the water. Sharpedo swam forwards to let her hold onto it, eyeing her carefully.

Archie, feeling strangely conscious of the fact that everyone was staring at them both, simply turned and vaulted down into the water. He swam around to the Pokemon's other side. "Full speed ahead, then, Sharpedo! Let's hunt that big fish!"

 _"Sharr!"_

As the trio headed for the darker waters of the Sootopolis exit, the crowd shuffled forwards to watch them dive - and Steven tossed a Pokeball, releasing Skarmory into the air. In one swoop, it caught him when he jumped, and they soared up into the storm.

Shelly hurriedly scooped up the Aqua Suit and the blue bandana before they could get trampled underfoot. "...Honestly." She stared down at the sodden piece of cloth, wrung it out, and sighed. After a moment's consideration, she tied it around her neck for safekeeping. When she looked up, she caught Maxie watching her, and shrugged. "He'll want it back."

The Magma Leader looked away with an air of nonchalance, perhaps pretending he hadn't seen, and watched the last shimmer of Steven and his Skarmory disappear into the blackened clouds.


	2. eye of the storm

"Steven!"

The crash of a colossal wave crashing down against the rocks was nearly deafening, and May winced back. Her words were being whipped away on the wind, but if she couldn't get herself heard, the entire plan was about to come tumbling down around them. She kept treading water, turning helplessly this way and that. He had to be here _somewhere._

"Ste-"

The behemoth brought its flipper down onto the water. For a second, her eyes widened - and then she was forced under, the huge wall of water threatening to break her if she didn't dive at that moment.

Things would be worse, she knew, if her Wailord wasn't currently engaging Kyogre in a very one-sided battle. They'd tried to lure it back to some semblance of dry land - somewhere she could use her Breloom for a type advantage - but the ancient Pokémon was stronger than any of them had fathomed. Unless the Champion could turn things around, things were looking grim.

May heard a distant crash, and forced herself to open her eyes despite the sting of the salt water. The dark shape of a Claydol sank past her. Alarmed, she struck out for the surface, and emerged gasping into the torrential rain.

 _"Steven!"_

"He can't hear you," came a gruff voice from somewhere to her right. May turned to face the Aqua Leader as he sped towards her, clinging to his Sharpedo. "Stone is still airborne, he's too far away - grab hold of Sharpedo! We'll take you to that island - maybe you can turn the tide of this battle yet!"

"But - Steven's stronger than I am!" May spluttered, clinging to the Pokémon like her life depended on it (and maybe it did). "I - I thought I could do this, but - if Steven can't-"

"None of that!" Archie pushed himself ashore and grabbed her arm, lifting her easily out of the water and standing her beside him. Even the rowdy Aqua Leader had to shout to be heard above the gale. "If any of the old Hoenn legends are right, it's never been about who fights best! It's all about heart!" He prodded her in the chest with his spare hand, leaving a stinging feeling just below her collarbones. "And you have a lot of that, scampo! Don't give up!"

As if to contest the man's thunderous claims, another huge wave rammed into them both.

When it receded, May realised Archie hadn't let go of her arm - it was probably the only reason she'd stayed upright. She let out a cough and took a step away from the edge, shaking her head.

"I can't! My Pokémon aren't strong enough!"

"Your Wailord's still out there, isn't it?"

"Y-yes, but-"

"Then you've still got a fighting chance!"

"We can't beat Kyogre! It's barely strong enough to leave a scratch!"

"Then it's buying you time to cook up something else!" Archie roared.

And he was right, in a way. May knew there had to be something. Some big, obvious thing she was missing. As she stared out at the thrashing Legendary, May quickly ran through the facts.

They couldn't defeat it by fighting it head-on. The Red Orb didn't work any more, not now that Kyogre had regressed into its Primal form. There was no way to get it on land, and no way to trap it in a smaller space without herding it back to Sootopolis - and the fallout from a battle there would be unforgivable...

Too late, she realised Archie was shouting something else, and trying to lift and run with her, but the beams of energy hurtled towards them too fast, there was no way -

Wailord leapt from the water with a mighty call, and for a moment, the thousands of glistening water droplets seemed to hang in the air around it. Time felt like it stood still, in that moment, and May heard herself take a ragged breath in.

Then the Origin Pulse hit, and Wailord was flung like a ragdoll over their heads, slamming into the water some vast distance behind them. The other beams of energy sliced into the rocks beside them, sending huge chunks of stone crashing down into the sand. Archie scooped her up and tore her away from the danger zone, managing to leap into the water at the other end of the tiny island right as a boulder thudded down just inches behind them.

Things went almost silent again. Everything sounded far away under the water, and May supposed she should be used to it by now, but when Sharpedo jetted up to them as quiet as the grave, she still flinched.

Archie held her to him with one arm, clinging to Sharpedo with the other, and the two held their breath. The longer they dared to stay under, the less likely it was Kyogre would see them. Right?

A huge, menacing shape loomed ahead of them.

Something hit it from above, a flash of silver and a faraway screech - Steven and Skarmory, somehow, were still fighting - but Kyogre ignored the damage from the Steel Wing attack and opened its mouth to screech. The sound waves travelled through the water like a high-speed quake, and despite herself, May opened her mouth to scream, a cloud of precious air bubbles racing away to trail harmlessly over Kyogre's tombstone-like teeth. It was opening its mouth to charge something, and May recognised the gathering blue glow as the same thing that had been fired at them just moments ago.

This was it - they were going to be killed by a Pokémon. A Pokémon was going to end the world. A Pokémon -

 _This world is widely inhabited by creatures known as Pokémon,_ some distant voice in her head echoed, its tone calm and friendly. _We humans live alongside Pokémon, at times playing together as friends, and at times helping one another out._

The stream of bubbles from her mouth stopped as she forced herself to grit her teeth together. She'd wasted so much air - and Archie was holding onto her so tightly, she felt like she might break. The blue light intensified, blinding her. They'd stopped swimming, Sharpedo too terrified to move, and somewhere in the back of her mind she registered that they were sinking, and that Kyogre was still coming towards them.

 _If you catch a Pokémon in the wild and battle together with it for a while, it will grow stronger for you!_ A younger voice, more excitable, a white hat... _May, you should use those Pokéballs I gave you earlier to do a bit of catching, too!_

A Poochyena in the grass. Sharpedo's rough skin against her palm.

 _Pokémon hide in tall grass like this, don't they?_ He'd looked so fragile. _P-please stay there to watch and see if I can catch one properly._

Her lungs were burning. Kyogre was almost upon them, and its Origin Pulse was almost charged, and they were going to be vaporised.

 _And that's why you'll get the honour of meeting my new partner before anyone else living in this world!_ Archie's voice this time, strong and proud and confident. _The super-ancient Pokémon, Kyogre!_

The super-ancient Pokémon.

But still just a Pokémon.

May struggled to free her hand, reaching for one of the empty Pokéballs still clipped to her waist - her subconscious guided her hand towards the memory of the blue one, because blue means water and Kyogre is water and water means good odds - and ripped it from its clip.

Archie, either seeing what she was trying to do or perhaps just unable to hold on, let go of her arm. She wound it back freely, feeling her heart pound in her chest and her lungs struggle against her ribs.

And then she flung it forwards and up, into the blinding blue light.

Everything stilled as the tiny sphere just barely connected with Kyogre's nose, so slowed by the water and by May's weakening strength. The dark shape was gone, and the energy buildup with it.

The tiny sphere sank towards her.

Struggled. Once, twice.

(She could hear her own heartbeat in perfect sync.)

Three times.

 _Click._

* * *

May awoke under a blinding light, and given the circumstances before she'd lost consciousness, a surge of panic jolted her upright. Her head collided with something soft and pink, and she instantly fell back again with a groan.

"Ch-Chansey..."

Rubbing its face, where a faint bruise would surely form later, the kindly Pokemon placed its other paw on her shoulder and peered at her again.

"Mnn... I'm... wh..." She recalled waking before, just briefly. On the sand. Her head was pounding, her body was waterlogged - had she thrown up on Steven's shoes? _Oh, no._ "Where's..." Her voice failed her. She'd woken a second time, too - maybe. There had been tubes. And worried parents. She'd gone back to sleep in a hurry.

"Chansey-Chansey!" the Pokémon cried happily. One full word counted as a definite positive. Maybe the nurse could extract a few more of them. "Cha-Chanseyy!"

"You're awake!" The Pokémon Centre nurse hurried over, her signature loops of pink hair bouncing at her shoulders, and instantly began performing checks. Temperature, a light in the eyes, listening to her breathing. "Now, don't you try to rush off just yet. You're still in recovery! I should be scolding you for being so careless, but given the circumstances, I think you all did your best..."

Oh, right. The _circumstances._

May tried to push herself upright again, finding the going much less swift now that it wasn't fuelled by a rush of adrenaline. "...My Pokémon..."

"Don't you move a muscle!" The nurse pushed her back down, gently but firmly, and with the kind of tone May suspected could keep a Salamence in its bed. She didn't move again. "They're in the waiting room near the Pokémon ward, with everyone else - except for your Wailord, it's waiting in its Pokéball. And the other one, of course. I'll go and fetch your parents since you're so full of energy, but don't you even think about moving!"

Other one? Everyone else?

May wasn't given much time to think about it.

"Darling!"

Putting on a brave (if weak) smile, because she knew her parents would only worry more if she didn't, May reached for her father's hand as her mother planted a kiss on her cheek, and braced herself for the volley of questions that would surely come next. And the scolding. Oh, Arceus, the scolding...

As it happened, there was far less scolding and far more open weeping from her mother (and stoic tears from her father), and despite all of her mental preparation, May couldn't avoid joining them - just for a while. Her chest ached when she cried, but it didn't last long. Truthfully, she was simply glad to be alive - and gladder, if it were possible, to see her parents.

Amongst the tears and her mother's wet sniffing, Norman just kept saying how proud he was. Of his little girl. His strong, brave little girl. His little champion.

Okay, Dad.

"...And you must promise to be more careful. None of this - this battling Legendary Pokémon business! Oh, honey, I know you're strong, but I worry... we both worry. You must call us more often, sweetheart. We love you so, _so_ much."

Okay, Mom.

"Now, dear... maybe our little star needs some time to rest. After all, we can't keep everyone else from-"

"We're her parents, Norman!"

"Oh - no, I know that, dear, but May might like to see the others, too..."

"Oh... of course. Of course she would. I'm sorry, May, it's just... we were so worried about you..." Her mother took a long, shaky breath, and landed another kiss on her cheek. "I love you, sweetheart. Get well soon."

Naturally, it was another five minutes of well-wishery before either of them could actually tear themselves away, and that was only because Brendan came rushing in at that moment. He was followed swiftly by Wally, and then by her own Blaziken - who, by the looks of things, had been trying to get them both to play nice with the nurse's wishes. Fat chance of _that._

"We heard you woke up, and-"

"W-we came as soon as the nurse would let us-"

"-said, _come back in visiting hours,_ so we just stayed-"

"-Steven said you'd make a full recovery-"

"-and then Blaziken almost set fire to the front desk-"

May laughed, faint and wheezy but completely genuine, and managed to ease herself into a sitting position. This seemed to silence her two friends, if only for a moment, and then they launched themselves into a sobbing, heartfelt three-way hug. The Chansey who had been keeping a nervous eye on them, and her Blaziken, began chattering in distress and trying frantically to discourage this behaviour - she needed room, after all, and after such a close call...

The nurse seemed to appear out of nowhere, and she loomed over them ominously, her eyes twinkling. An unpleasant crack of her knuckles broke through the noise of the reunion.

Gulping, Brendan and Wally let go and took a cautious step backwards.

The nurse stayed where she was, though the terrifying glint in her eyes was gone. Perhaps they'd imagined it.

"...Um..." Brendan recovered quickly, thrusting a comically oversized envelope into her hands. "...Anyway, we brought you a card! Everyone signed it." He caught May eyeing the size of the thing dubiously, and leaned in conspiratorially. _"Everyone."_

"And some fruitcake," Wally added, looking a little sheepish as he held out a box tied with a green ribbon. "My parents always said sweets aren't good to give to people who are sick, b-but Brendan said that was lame, so I compromised... I-I hope that's okay..."

May grinned, placing the box on her lap and tearing carefully into the envelope. "It's perfect," she said, and she meant it.

Brendan managed to stay quiet for all of three seconds, and then the card opened, and he was instantly talking her through every single signature. And he hadn't exaggerated - there were a _lot._

"...And that's Brawly's, and Roxanne's, and that big loopy one is Winston's - I accidentally spilled his fancy ink on his sleeve right after and started yelling - and that's Mr. Briney's, and that little footprint underneath is Peeko's! And this one-"

"Is... um... Is this all of them?" She'd already read the whole card, despite Brendan only being halfway through. He'd kept getting distracted.

He blinked at her. "Uh... like who?"

"I think we got everybody," Wally offered after a moment. He'd been fairly quiet, but May noted that he hadn't let go of her hand in the past ten minutes. "Um - but we can go track down Steven, if-"

"No, no! Don't be silly! You guys are the _best,"_ she insisted, "I was just... Do any of you have an idea what happened to..."

"Oh." Brendan looked relieved. "You mean Archie."

"Yeah," she said, looking even more relieved. If anything was wrong, Brendan would have looked far less relaxed. He wasn't particularly good at hiding his expressions, and May had always maintained that that was a good thing. "Is he..."

"He's fine," Wally added brightly. "He fell asleep waiting for you to wak- _mmph!"_

 _"Wally!_ He told us not to tell her!"

Struggling away from Brendan's hand (but not with all that much determination, or he'd have let go of May's), Wally huffed. "I-I know, but... I thought we were going to tell her anyway?"

"Right, duh - but not _yet!"_

As Brendan continued to ineffectually grill him, and Wally responded only with quiet, logical replies (maybe suggesting that he was secretly _enjoying_ riling up the more rambunctious trainer), May relaxed back in her bed and let out a quiet, contented sigh.

Seeing the two get along so well was just as much of a relief as it had been to hear that the Aqua Leader had made it out of the affair unscathed, and May found that despite so narrowly escaping a simultaneous double-whammy of drowning and being Origin Pulsed in the face, she was hard-pressed to think of a time she'd felt safer or happier than right now.

"-And if May caught the Legendary Pokémon, May gets to name it!"

"I... I don't know if-"

"May!" Brendan plopped his hands down on her bed, earning himself a warning glare from the nurse that he promptly ignored. "What are you gonna name your Kyogre?"

May stared blankly at him.

"My Kyogre?"

Wally and Brendan exchanged glances.

* * *

 _A/N: Hi this is happening apparently? I didn't mean to have two fics on the go at once but apparently I don't learn from my past mistakes, so, here is another multi-chaptered mess coming at you live from the Sootopolis human ward, which I decided sort of has to be a thing since Pokémon Centres are visibly the only medically-oriented building in any town in the Pokémon universe ever._

 _Let me know what you think! And also tell me off. Bad me. Stop taking on multiple projects at once._

 _Thanks for reading! I'll probably update again soon, because the plot Bunearys won't stop coming._


	3. may used recover!

Her recovery had been swift. A near-drowning, the nurse had explained, shouldn't really have taken that long to recover from in the first place - but she'd been in shock, and there was that nasty bump on the head to take a look at, and mostly they were keeping her for observation after such a close encounter with that Pokémon...

May suspected everyone just wanted to fuss over her a little longer. There had been surprisingly few other casualties in the great storm's immediate vicinity - only a few people in shock, one sprained wrist from an unexpected mudslide, and an old lady who had fallen and hurt her hip. This meant there was more than enough time and space to fuss over Hoenn's newest hero.

 _Things could have been worse, if you hadn't been there, if you hadn't been so brave, May, you're a hero! Stay a little longer, you might be in shock. No, don't get up! We'll interview you right here in the bed - Ty, are you getting this?_

As much as she usually loved to cooperate with the cameras - what better way to show off her Pokémon? - May couldn't find enough heart to put in it. She wanted to be up and moving, heading out of here with Blaziken and Brendan and Wally, and maybe they could just have a day of hanging around Sootopolis and eating café food and talking about their journey like nothing had happened.

Gabby agreed.

"That's a great idea, May! It's settled - we'll all meet for coffee in that place across the lake tomorrow. Are your friends strong? They won't be the focus, of course, but I'm sure any friend of yours won't complain about that..."

A shadow fell across Ty, and it took him a second or two of fiddling with the brightness on the camera to realise there was someone standing quite deliberately in his light. He turned around, the camera still held against his eye, and paled.

The looming figure of Team Aqua's leader took up most of the shot, his eyes fixed in a piercing stare directly past the camera at Gabby. Beside him, the flash of red hair that was Maxie was almost as intimidating, with one hand on his hip and the other fixing his gleaming glasses.

"I think," suggested Maxie, "you have enough footage now."

Gabby fussed with May's hair with a pocket comb. "Yeah, yeah - just a sec."

"Um, Gabby?"

"Ty, keep filming until - oh!"

Gabby jumped as she turned to address her companion, and the comb clattered to the floor. True to her usually-unflappable form, she recovered quickly - but it looked as if she'd gotten the hint.

"Oh," she repeated, tossing her hair out of her eyes. "I didn't see you two, there! Um... Nurse, are they allowed in here?"

"I don't see them bothering May, so I suppose it's alright, don't you think?" came the cheerful (but also somehow _icy)_ reply. "With the Champion in town, I don't think they'll be trying anything underhanded." The nurse had been polishing the windowsill for a good few minutes, and it was clear she had no intent on leaving while May was so crowded.

"Quite right." Maxie nodded. Archie didn't move.

Ty lifted his eye from the lens and glanced at Gabby, looking fairly uncomfortable.

She huffed. "Well, that's no problem, then! I've been meaning to get an interview with you two, anyway-"

"You don't have our permission to film," Maxie said immediately, ever prepared, and Archie gently pushed the camera down until all it was filming was the clean Pokémon Centre floor tiles. Ty didn't resist.

"Oh," Gabby said for a third time. She glanced between them, from Maxie's calm demeanour to the thinly-veiled annoyance in Archie's shadowed brow, and decided that this was a battle best fought another time. "You know what, I think we _do_ have enough footage. Ty, let's head back! I can't wait to get this into editing..."

May watched them leave, and she knew them well enough by now to know they'd been frightened off. Perhaps she should be, too.

One look back at the two team leaders, and the thought curled up and died. A tense feeling in her chest suddenly erupted into helpless laughter, and May earned herself a dry smile from Maxie.

Archie stared at her, bewildered, and then looked away with an uncomfortable tug at his shirt collar.

"Wh-what _happened?"_ she demanded, dabbing at her eye with the heel of her hand.

Their flashy team uniforms were gone. Instead, Maxie had opted for a woolly grey turtleneck and a pair of plain black pants. The former looked like it had been knitted by someone's grandmother, but at least it was practical.

Archie's was perhaps a thousand times worse.

He at the hem of his gaudy Hawaiian shirt to straighten it. May could see the gleam of his Mega Anchor through the open top button. He'd gone for shorts and sandals on his bottom half, and May almost couldn't stop laughing at the idea of the Aqua Leader being reduced to _incognito tourist._ "It was your little friend's idea," he added, grumbling. "Take it up with him."

"And quite right he was, too," Maxie added, folding his hands neatly at his back. "We would be attracting far too much attention in our usual outfits. That excitable friend of yours is sharper than he seems."

"Brendan?" she choked. "Brendan put you up to this?"

"No, but he did point out the problem with us simply wandering around Sootopolis in our team uniforms in broad daylight. We're not averse to compromise." Maxie paused, shooting Archie a sidelong glance. "At least, I'm not."

Archie ignored him. It was written all over his face how uncomfortable he was in the floral shirt. There was no reason to take it out on the scamp. "We didn't come here to put on a fashion show. We owe you one serious apology. After that, we'll both be on our way."

May blinked, trying to stamp down the fit of giggles, and smiled up at them. "Yeah, okay..." She let out a shaky sigh, and forced herself into some semblance of composure. Outfit disasters notwithstanding, this was serious. She smoothed out the bedcovers with her hands, deciding not to look up again until she was sure she wasn't going to laugh. "Go right ahead, I guess. Um - Maxie first."

The duo hesitated, both of them considering arguing, but then Archie bowed his head. Maxie took the hint.

"...Right. Well, I suppose this will sound odd. You and I didn't encounter each other all that often. But the fact remains, I am an adult - along with Steven Stone, Wallace, and everyone else. And you, May, are a child." He shut his eyes for a moment, steeling himself. "...The monumental task of calming such a powerful beast should never have fallen to you. I understood Team Aqua's motives just the same, and yet there was little I could do to stop them."

Archie's fists tightened nigh-imperceptibly at his sides, and he looked away.

Maxie opened his eyes again to see May staring questioningly up at him, and his composure cracked a little. He sighed. "You did what I could not, and that means I failed in my duty. I set out to prevent my rival from awakening Kyogre, but despite my intentions, I could do nothing even to save a child from being hurt. From any perspective, that is a grave failure - not as the leader of Team Magma, but simply as a responsible adult. For that, I sincerely apologise."

She blinked. If she'd been expecting anything from him, this was not it. Maybe it was hard for her to take things seriously - even after such a terrifying experience, it was difficult to relate to the person she'd been, in that brief terrifying instant between sinking into the water and reaching for the Pokéball. It just didn't compute.

She was a Pokémon trainer, and she had caught a Pokémon. Maybe she'd be able to process that properly when she was older. Maybe that was the _point._

"It's okay," she heard herself say, realising Maxie was still looking at her, and offered him an earnest smile. "If even Steven Stone couldn't do it, maybe it took a kid? Mom said she was proud of me for being so brave, but actually... I don't think throwing a Pokéball was all that clever." She shrugged. "Maybe adults and kids are just different people."

The seconds dragged by. Then, with a relieved sigh, Maxie matched her smile with one of his own. "I look forward to a day when we can discuss that in more detail. You are quite the insightful young lady." He nodded politely, and gave a cursory glance to his right. "...I believe leaving you two alone for the next part might be wise. But, please..." He stooped to bring himself a little closer, lowering his voice so that the perceptive Nurse in the corner wouldn't hear. "If you ever have need of Team Magma's help, we have a base of operations by Jagged Pass, near Mount Chimney. Someone as perceptive as you will certainly find your way."

She felt him slip something cold and sharp-edged into her hand, and then Maxie straightened up. Without another word he turned and left, the door swinging open momentarily with a surge in distant chatter, and then May and Archie were left alone.

Mostly, anyway. The Nurse had long finished her work by the windowsill, and May suspected she'd changed the water for a particular vase of flowers at least three times by now.

Archie, apparently, was having a little trouble convincing himself to speak.

"Are you okay?" May asked after what felt like an age.

He seemed to jolt back to his senses, and hurriedly looked out of the window, unable to look her in the eyes.

"Aye," he said quietly. "I'm... I didn't come away quite as much like a drowned Rattata as you, scamp. I'm all good."

May decided against saying _that's not what I meant,_ because as they both knew, Archie was well aware. "That's good. I was worried when I woke up, but Wally and Brendan told me you were fine, so..." She trailed off.

Awkward.

Archie cleared his throat and forced himself to look back at her, and it was obvious his discomfort no longer stemmed from his unfortunate fashion choices. "Your parents are outside. They're keen to see me off, I think. Never knew your old dad was a Gym Leader, heh. No wonder you made such a good little adversary."

"Dad works hard. I always wanted to be like him." She wasn't sure what else to say. _Do something, you big idiot! This is awful!_

"Aye." He shifted in place, his hand sneaking up to his neck again, and May realised it wasn't his collar he was fussing with. His hand closed around the chain of his Mega Anchor, and he held onto it absently as he spoke. "Well, it's not my place to... That is, Maxie was always the wordy one... I mean, I'll try to keep this short."

Archie faltered again, and May found herself urging him on inside her head. Speech wasn't his strong point. At least, not quiet speech, and certainly not the bare-bones kind that had to be done over a hospital bed. He gritted his teeth and forced himself to continue.

"I'm sorry, sc- May. Truly, I..." Archie shook his head slowly, and their brief moment of eye contact was lost again. "For your sake, I hope we don't meet again. I'm sure your dad agrees. So, I'll be taking my leave. But I wanted you to know how sorry I am, at least."

May shook her head quickly, and upon realising he was about to step away, she quickly put out her hand and grabbed at the corner of his stupid shirt. "At least - at least tell me," she rushed out, "who brought me back? I just remember - you were there, and Sharpedo was there, and then everything just..." She let go. "I don't remember," she finished, lamely. But she had a good idea.

"Ask Steven," he replied, after a moment, "if you're not sure. It wasn't just me, scamp."

May felt herself smile at him, bright and warm, and Archie had to turn and head for the door before it burned him up. If anything, the heartfelt look on her face just made him regret everything even more.

"Then it's okay, right?" she called after him. "It's okay - we're even. We're good."

"I can't tell you what to think," he replied without looking round. "Scamp," he added, for good measure.

"If I ever decide I _do_ want revenge, don't forget -" May grinned, waving at him even as the door closed. "- I know where you live!"

* * *

Within the day, May had managed to get the nurse to sign her out. She had a clean bill of health, as far as anyone could tell, and besides - the sun was bound to do her good.

It took a little longer to convince her parents she was fine. But her father had a Gym to get back to, and her mother - as much as she dreaded the awkward flight back on the excitable Tropius they'd borrowed from Professor Birch - couldn't afford to stay in Sootopolis forever, even on Wallace's insistence that they stay at his place. It was a beautiful town, but they had lives to go back to.

Waving them off and shouting encouragement as her mother clung nervously to the Pokémon's neck, May knew it was only a matter of time before she'd be heading home, too.

Her father circled the Pokémon around after they took off, waving once more down to his daughter between its leafy wings. "Take care, May! Call soon!"

 _"Norman!_ You take us back right now - stop stalling! Don't- it's unsteady, don't steer it like that-!"

"Relax, dear! I know what I'm doing..."

"It's tilting!"

"It is _turning,_ now just sit tight and-"

May heard a snicker from her right. Brendan shaded his eyes with one hand as they watched her parents sail off into the blue sky, still bickering as her father tried and failed to be reassuring.

To her left, Wally was managing to stay somewhat more poker-faced, though there was a tell-tale glimmer of amusement in his eyes. "Your parents are very nice people, May."

"They're cool, I guess," she agreed, and stretched her arms out in the sun. The warm spell had been just what Sootopolis needed, after the swirl of storm clouds had faded. Apparently, the energy that had dispersed that day had rained down to earth straight after, and looking around, May could see things had changed for the better. "Everything's so _green."_

"I like it," Wally replied with a nod. "The air smells cleaner. It reminds me a little of Verdanturf..."

Brendan shot him a curious look. "Are you going back?"

"Not yet." He paused. Then, after a glance at May that went thankfully unnoticed, he turned away to survey the lake. "I have things I want to do, first. What about you?"

"Haha! Well, of course not! I have a Pokémon journey to finish - right, May?" May blinked, shaken out of her train of thought, and turned to study his face. Brendan's smile faded slightly. "What?"

She smiled at him curiously, then turned to give Wally the same searching look. The smile stayed.

"...Thanks for coming," she said eventually, and to their surprise, she quickly hooked her arms around their shoulders and pulled them close. "You guys are the best friends I could ask for! The card was awesome, too."

"Oh, well - y'know," Brendan grinned, his face flushing just a tad. "I was flying around all over the place like crazy, looking for signatures... Wally was the one who stayed with you the whole time."

"I-I didn't - I mean, it made sense that Brendan..." He gave up, laughing nervously. "Someone had to call Brendan when you woke up. A-and your Pokémon seemed scared, so I was trying to calm it down..."

She froze, looking put off. "Was Blaziken being difficult?"

"Oh! No - no, not Blaziken. Your other Pokémon. I mean - we _thought_ it was yours..."

As if in response, there was a faint, high-pitched call from somewhere behind them. May whirled around.

A red helm dipped back behind a building, staying hidden for a few seconds before peering back out. Its yellow eyes flashed, and it made a nervous, querying noise.

"Latias!" She brightened, waving both hands high. "It's okay! It's me, I'm all better!"

 _"Tiii!"_

Almost as if propelled by sheer force of will, the Pokémon rushed forwards out of its hiding place, wrapping its armoured hands around May and hugging her tightly. The momentum made her spin and stagger, and she clutched wildly at Latias' neck to keep her balance. The Pokémon gave an alarmed trill and tugged her back onto both feet, narrowly avoiding a plunge into the Sootopolis lake.

"Easy! Haha, okay, it's fine. I'm okay! See?"

"She was pretty agitated," said Brendan, "but Wally managed to convince her to stay outside since we couldn't find a Pokéball for her..."

"She doesn't have one," May replied, managing to prise the Pokémon's claws from her shoulders, and it seemed to settle for holding her hands instead. "Latias is still wild, but we're good friends - isn't that right?"

"Latii!"

"I think she felt guilty for not getting there sooner," Wally offered, gingerly reaching out to lay his hand on the Pokémon's neck. She let him, and he began stroking the thin, downy feathers with a gentle smile. "But she was the one who found you and Archie. I don't think he could have brought you back by himself. His Sharpedo was panicking."

"Wait," she interrupted, "so what happened, exactly? Archie wouldn't tell me. You're saying Latias carried us back?"

Wally nodded, but Brendan spoke first. "Yeah! Steven said by the time he found you guys, Latias was already trying to get you out of the water. Archie's Pokémon was really upset. I think it bit her."

"Laa," Latias said reproachfully, turning her nose up. "La _ti."_

"Apparently, both of them were freaking out too much to help like they wanted to. So Steven had to calm Sharpedo down first, and then Latias took you on her back and flew straight here."

Wally nodded. "When I got here, she wouldn't even let your parents inside."

"I was just gonna battle her," Brendan admitted, giving them a sheepish grin.

Latias gave him an impertinent look.

"Sorry for worrying all of you," May said quietly, giving Latias another appreciative hug. "I didn't mean to make anyone panic. But it's all over now, right? So everything's gonna go back to normal."

"You're still gonna go ahead and finish the Gym challenge, huh?" Brendan grinned at her, shaking his head in disbelief. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Man, I bet that Kyogre will wipe the floor with everybody!"

May's eyes flicked open. "Um. Right. About that..." She disentangled herself from Latias' embrace, and stuck one hand in her bag, rummaging around for a moment. When she fished out the unassuming Devon Pokéball, all eyes fixed on it. "I guess it really is mine, right?"

"Well, you caught it..." Brendan trailed off dubiously, then glanced at Wally. "She _did_ catch it," he repeated.

"R-right..." Wally looked uncomfortable, and didn't take his eyes off the ball.

"So it'll do what she tells it. Right?"

"I can't just leave it in a PC," May said, turning the ball so that it caught the light. Latias peered at it, looking curious. "Can I?"

The three trainers eyed the Dive Ball with a rising sense of apprehension.

Across the lake, there was a distant shout as some young children fired at each other with water pistols. For a long time, nobody moved. Life went on around them as if nothing had changed - as if the small, gleaming Devon ball in the girl's hand didn't hold one of the most powerful Pokémon the Hoenn region had ever known.

"I think," Wally suggested slowly, "you should talk to an expert."

* * *

 _Writing this chapter took ages mainly because I kept erasing massive swathes of it and taking it in completely different directions. I'm fairly satisfied with the way it did eventually turn out, but don't be afraid to let me know what you think._

 _To the person who told me Pokémon names shouldn't be capitalised, that's how it's done in all the official Pokémon canon, so that's how I'm doing it. I've always thought of Pok_ _émon names as proper nouns due to the fact that all of them are copyrighted as part of the brand - if it's how Nintendo does it, it's good enough for me. As for the rest, you make a couple of very good points, and I'll be trying to improve from here on out._

 _I don't know how long this thing is gonna go on for but I mainly wrote it for fluff reasons. (Apparently, when thinking about how to fluff things up, my brain tends to lean towards drowning people first? Okay, sure.) I doubt it'll turn into a 200-chapter epic or anything. Honestly all I wanted was a series of disconnected fluff scenes but HUP MY HAND SEEMS TO HAVE SLIPPED._


	4. making waves

May still wasn't sure if she was supposed to be hiding or not.

But, despite all that happened, despite the news reporting dubious stories of Team Aqua disbanding, instinct made her duck behind a corner as somebody walked past. Her chest tightened with that same thrilling, anxious feeling until the footsteps receded. She darted out of her hiding place and made a beeline for the teleporter, well-memorised and nearly as familiar as the trail to her secret base.

This was basically just a big secret base, anyway. She had long understood Archie to be a big kid at heart. They were on the same page.

The warp flashed around her and she felt her body begin to spin, the vortex of energy lifting her a little and then - in the blink of an eye - dropping her to unsteady feet on a solid platform.

A few more, and she'd be there. A part of her wished she could have taken Latias with her for moral support, but the Pokémon had accompanied her back to Mossdeep and then she'd encouraged it to leave. It had an island to protect, and she was sure its sibling missed it, and... honestly, carting a Pokémon that rare around populated towns was never a good idea.

Archie was waiting.

"Go home," he said, after they'd stared at each other for a good ten seconds or so. "Your parents don't want you to be running around here, and neither do I."

He was sitting on his couch, one arm resting on his knee as support, and the other resting on the table to steady his hand. He was writing something. Adult stuff. Stuff that didn't suit Archie, as May knew him.

"I need your help," she declared firmly, as if that would magically convince him.

The world wasn't as easy as that, apparently, because Archie had begun ignoring her. His pen scratched across the paper, sounding far too loud in the silent room.

"I don't know what to do with-"

"Run on out of here, scamp."

May flinched, her eyebrows immediately throwing on her most impudent scowl - the one that she usually reserved for her parents when they told her not to go somewhere dangerous. It was a masterpiece of a frown. "Don't be horrid, Archie."

"I've got work to do."

"I'll say! The vending machine in the corridor is all out of soda. You should tell someone to get on that." She powered forwards, completely unperturbed by the heavy atmosphere that was filling the base like a flood behind a dam. Continuing despite the odds was May's specialty, and she flopped down unceremoniously on the opposite end of the couch, dropping her bag on the floor with a heavy **thump** \- _I've come a long way with that weight, did you hear that, Archie? Can't kick me out now. Surely I'm tired out!_

The Aqua Leader glanced sidelong in her direction - not quite _at_ her, his eyes were focused on the opposite wall, but the sentiment was broadcast nonetheless.

May was no idiot. With anyone else, this was a dangerous move to make, and perhaps she'd have been afraid. But this was Team Aqua's base, and she knew a lot about Team Aqua. They didn't just admire Archie - they looked up to him in the same way her Pokémon looked up to her, or at least that was how it felt. She liked to think she was a good judge of character. And if the Grunts she'd talked to were any indication, Archie was just as much a team player (a regular human, just a guy with a lot of people who thought the world of him) as she was. As Steven Stone was. As her _dad_ was.

"Are you doing taxes?" she guessed, pulling the kind of face she used to pull at soap operas that talked about kissing or day jobs or anything that wasn't _becoming League Champion._ She stuck out her tongue. "Bleh."

It was a gamble. Either she'd incense him and he'd do something drastic like pull out his Pokémon or kick her out of the base (the dam would break), or he'd fold.

May was an excellent judge of character. Archie folded, just like she knew he would.

"I'm working out meal costs."

"Ew."

"For my team," he said pointedly, and that seemed to shut her up for a second or two while she rearranged her tactics.

May sprawled on the roomy couch, managing to take up a lot of space without even really being near him, and put her chin on the arm-rest.

"Just tell them to get takeout," she suggested.

Archie fell silent, and with the end of his pen pressed to his bottom lip, he dared himself to look at her. For once, May was subjected to the side of Archie he didn't usually bother to show. It wasn't important, usually. Usually, he'd keep this to himself. Usually.

May, the scamp, was unusual.

"Team Aqua isn't made of money, scamp. We have a shared account. Some of our members depend on that."

May's eyes tracked across to his face, evaluating the curious look for what it was, and she shuffled into an upright position. He had her attention.

"They're homeless?"

"They live here." _Yes. Kind of. You're being very blunt._

May's grey eyes focused on him to a razor point. "You're a nice person."

Archie leaned suddenly back in his seat, studying the ceiling like it was the most important thing in the room. May was impossible. She was an impossible kid, with impossible friends, and she'd done something impossible right in front of him a few days ago. But she was still just a child.

Children didn't care one jot about your self-loathing.

"Maybe I'll just ask Maxie," she said finally, after Archie had been silent for almost a minute. Her hand went to her pocket and thumbed the cool metal of the Magma symbol. "He knew a little about Kyogre, right?"

Slowly, he built up the will to look across at her, and wasn't remotely surprised to find her staring back. Little scamp. She _knew_ that'd get him.

"You'll need space," he said hesitantly. "And a wetsuit."

* * *

"Wally, look!"

"Um... What am I looking at?"

Brendan grabbed his friend's arm, spinning him in the right direction, and pointed. "You see?"

"No. Wait... Is that-?"

An aisle or two away, a familiar red-haired man pulled a glass jar from the shelf, turning it to read the label.

To Wally's dismay, Brendan's face lit up and he began waving frantically. "Hey, Maxie!"

 _"Brendan,"_ Wally whispered unhappily, and too late he tried to duck behind a shelf.

The man's glasses glinted in the light as he looked up distractedly from a second jar. "Oh. It's you." A beat, and he leaned back a little to better see the tuft of green hair sticking out from behind a box of X Specials. "Good afternoon, both of you. Doing some shopping?"

His face red with embarrassment, Wally stepped out to stand just behind Brendan's shoulder, raising one hand in a short, shy greeting.

Brendan had no such reservations. He nodded enthusiastically. "We thought we'd come check out the sale. It's still Saturdays, right? I-I mean, it's not like I've been before. It's all dolls and stuff. Yuck."

As if finally deciding that it was too much hassle to stay aloof, especially when the two boys clearly didn't think much of approaching him in the first place, Maxie cracked a dry smile. "I believe you'll find it takes place on the roof, not the third floor."

"Th-that's great, thank you. Brendan, we should..."

"What are _you_ doing here?" The more outgoing trainer closed the distance between Maxie and himself in two quick steps, peering at the objects the Magma Leader was holding. "Are those stat boosters? What are you gonna use those for? Packing on the muscle, or something?"

Resigning himself to fate, Wally sighed and followed him. It would be rude to leave them, he decided, and anyway, Maxie didn't look all _that_ annoyed.

Maxie withheld a scoff and held out one of the containers for Brendan to see. "Hardly. I do have Pokémon of my own, you know."

"Yeah," Brendan said, whisking the jar out of his hand, "I guess it'd take more than a couple of boosters for _you_ to get all burly. What's this one? Carbos?" He squinted at the packet.

Maxie, to his credit, decided it would be easier to simply take another off the shelf instead of trying to retrieve the one Brendan had snatched. "My Camerupt is a little slow," he confessed.

Wally glanced at the two products in Maxie's hands, finally stepping out from Brendan's shadow, and then shook his head. "Carbos won't fix that." He paled, realising Maxie was now focused on him with a particularly sharp look, and tried to explain. "W-with a big Pokémon like Camerupt, you'll be better off using its defenses to your advantage, not speed. That's... all I..."

Maxie was smiling at him. "I know that, of course. But sometimes, the mind does wander..." He slid the Carbos back onto the shelf, and held onto the other container - labelled as Calcium, Wally noticed. "I should thank you for reminding me. Wishful thinking does no serious statistician any good."

"Wally's great at that stuff," Brendan chipped in, gesturing proudly to his friend. "He was talking all sorts of math at me back in Sootopolis, but I don't really get it. His Kirlia does look strong, so I guess he must be getting serious!"

"I-I'm not, really... I mean, I have a long way to go."

"So do we all." Maxie nodded agreeably. "Well, I suppose I'm hardly going to shake you both off if we're doing our browsing in the same building. If you'd like, we can all make our way to the roof. I was planning on taking a look, myself."

"Really? That would be so cool! Wait till I tell my dad I hung out with the leader of Team Magma!" Brendan paused, jabbing his finger suspiciously in Maxie's direction. "Just don't try anything funny, or my pal here will beat you with both hands tied behind his back."

 _"Brendan!"_

Smiling to himself, Maxie shook his head and made his way to the register. The sooner they made it to the roof, the better. Perhaps a breath of fresh air would calm the two boys down.

He had to admit, as much as he'd hoped to simply get on with something so simple as shopping and not be pestered, things had been slow lately with nothing but research to get on with and (as far as he could tell) no resurfacing of their team rivals. The unexpected appearance of Brendan and Wally had broken what was inevitably turning into monotony, and anyway - how difficult could it be to accompany two younger trainers around Lilycove Department Store?

* * *

"Ready?"

"Ready," May confirmed, her arm winding back.

With a solid throw, she released the Dive Ball, the blue glow of programmed energy unleashing the Pokémon into the water of the private cove. Displaced water surged away from the huge, blue body, and May quickly stepped back to her tutor's side.

They'd chosen their arena well. Archie had already had an idea of where to start, and May suspected this had always been part of his original plan - it had been a good one, if not for the unexpected deluge that followed. Now, he was confident they could pick up where he left off. Legendary Pokémon or not, he said, it was always going to take some time to understand one another.

Kyogre gave a high-pitched bellow into the water, one they could hear from the surface, and May tensed. Clouds began to gather overhead, and a cold, clinging atmosphere began to roll in.

 _Water in her mouth, water down her throat. Blue light in her eyes. Water in her lungs-_

"Steady," Archie murmured, a solid block of confidence at her shoulder. "It's only doing what its instincts are telling it. Can't help the weather. Go and greet your partner properly, scamp."

May gulped down the damp air and stepped forwards, making her way to the edge of the rocky outcrop and - hesitation, for a second, then movement - hopped down onto the sand.

"Kyogre?" she called, her voice sounding very small against the waves. "I-I'm May, and..."

The screech that met her words made her stop, hissing a precautionary breath inwards as if expecting water to crash over her. None came. Archie was behind her, she reasoned, and she'd be okay. Brendan and Wally and probably even Maxie would be there, if she needed them.

"My name is May, and I-"

 _Screech._

Something landed in the sand behind her with a soft thump, and a warm, steady hand placed itself on her shoulder.

"No adversary of mine bends in the face of a big fish," he muttered, giving her shoulder a reassuring shake. "Tell it, scamp. Return it if it won't listen."

Right. Her hand clung a little tighter to the Dive Ball, and May took in a hasty breath of sea air.

"I want to be your trainer!"

Somehow, the ear-splitting call of the sea Pokémon didn't batter against her mind the way it had before. May stepped forwards, her toes wet against the surf, and she stuck her hands on her hips. An ancient Pokémon wouldn't know what a trainer was, right?

"I have other Pokémon with me. We all grew stronger as a team, and maybe - maybe if you want to, you can meet them, too! But I want to get to know you first. And if we like each other, we can get stronger together. We..." She hesitated only a moment this time, swallowing the scared part of herself that kept pushing the memory of drowning to the front of her brain, and stepped further down the beach. The steady waves rushed up to her ankle. "We can explore Hoenn together. Have you seen it?"

The Pokémon lashed its fins downwards, and a breaking wave of sea water rushed up to her waist and then receded. It made a low, hollow sound in the pit of its throat, and May remembered that it made Hoenn, together with Groudon, she'd heard that part before. Stupid question.

"You haven't seen the people. You haven't seen everything. I can show you!"

May splashed forwards into the water, and it took a second for Archie to follow her but he was there, like he'd promised before they'd started - he was going to stay until this was over. She reminded herself for the _n_ th time that she could trust him, because she'd seen the way Team Aqua treated him, she'd seen the way he treated them, and because she was an excellent judge of character.

She had to trust _one_ of the two big scary seafarers, anyway.

"Hoenn changed a lot! I want you to see it... I-I don't want you to wash it away!"

At this, Kyogre made a different noise. Its nose dipped just below the surface, almost as if bowing to acknowledge her, and - yes. The rain was stopping.

"Easy," Archie muttered, "easy. Hold out your hand to it."

She did as she was told. Archie knew what he was doing.

Kyogre's fins moved and she tensed up, screwing her eyes tightly shut and turning her head away, trembling like a leaf. She could feel the water displacing itself around her as the monster slowly edged forwards.

Cold breath huffed a spray of seawater at her hand, and nothing else.

"It's okay," she mumbled hoarsely. "It's all okay. You don't want to hurt me, right?" Her other hand swished through the water and began gently stroking the underside of Kyogre's jaw. Above, the rain had reduced itself to some sparse drops, and then the clouds began to clear for real. The first few rays of sun were warm against her face.

 _Kyoooo._

She opened her eyes one at a time, daring herself to look at it, and in the sunlight Kyogre just didn't look quite so terrifying. It was like seeing a movie monster outside of its context, in the fitting room, or in a making-of. From head-on, she realised, it probably couldn't even see her too well. May carefully sidestepped, wary of the water getting deeper as she made her way to the side of Kyogre's face.

She could see her reflection in the shiny yellow of its big eye, and the iris shifted, examining her carefully.

"Hello," she said, her voice small and awed.

It hissed another spray of wet mist in response, and she gently stroked its cool, blue skin.

She'd been right, May decided. Kyogre _was_ just a Pokémon. A living thing, like any other. It could be reasoned with.

She had also been _wrong,_ on the other hand, about Archie. Adulthood _did_ suit him, the same as it suited her father, or Steven Stone, or Wallace. She couldn't pretend he was a kid on her level, or that she understood what his problems were. She'd understand later, maybe, and that was just one of those things. Right now, she was grateful to have an adult with her, someone who apparently did want to be responsible, and was responsible enough to have a hand in balancing his team's checkbooks, or whatever he'd been doing.

"Archie?" she said lightly, like this was no big feat, and like her heart wasn't pulsing adrenaline around her body. "Come over here. Come meet Kyogre."

"Are - are you sure?" He hesitated fully, and by the time she turned to look at him, his hand was gripping his Mega Anchor again and he looked stressed. But hopeful, she thought.

"I'm sure. Come say hi."

As May had suspected, he didn't need to be told twice. He waded forwards, around to its other side, letting it see him - he _did_ know what he was doing, after all, probably more than she did. Slowly, he began to pet it the same way she was, a weak grin appearing on his face.

"That's Archie," she said. "He woke you up. He's very sorry if he upset you."

"Aye... My apologies, Kyogre," he said awkwardly, and then, "You're _beautiful,_ aren't you?"

Kyogre crooned, its voice high and rich and no longer the agitated screeching it had been before. Perhaps it agreed.

"Do you think it'll let us ride it?" she hazarded, her face brightening. Her fear was taking its time to ebb, but she was a trainer, and this was a Pokémon. _If you fall, get right back on the Rapidash._ Sound advice from her father.

Archie laughed (the first time in a long time, but she didn't need to know that) and gave Kyogre a daring look. "Us, eh? The scamp's getting ahead of herself. What do you say, Kyogre? Ready to make nice with a couple of humans?"

Apparently it had decided that was an acceptable turn of events. An hour later, as they scrambled up onto Kyogre's back for the fourth time, it gave a soft apologetic kind of wail as if promising that this time it would remember to stay at the surface while they were on its back. Humans were sadly not as streamlined as it had thought.

Archie, living proof that growing up and being an adult didn't mean you had to stop having fun, let out a bark of laughter as May splashed challengingly at him. "Let me back up, you bum!"

"This seat's taken," Archie called down at her, patting Kyogre's head gently.

It made a disapproving noise, lifting its huge paddle-like appendage under May and providing her with a platform. She muttered thanks under her breath and edged over, wobbling unsteadily, then gave Archie a rough shove. He toppled off its back with a shout and landed with a splash in the sea on its other side.

Her older friends had been right about a lot of things, May decided. _With Pokémon,_ her mother had told her once, _it's possible to find something in common with anybody._ Professor Birch had explained, too, that friendship often began with Pokémon, but it rarely ended with them. She was inclined to agree.

Archie surfaced with a roar, and swept a wave of water up at her. It splashed harmlessly on Kyogre's side, and she laughed deviously as the Pokémon lifted its massive flipper in preparation to splash him back.

"All hail May, ruler of the seas!" she yelled triumphantly, punching both fists high.

The shadow of a huge wave loomed over him, and Archie's face fell.

* * *

"...So when I found out Swablu's evolutionary line gained a Dragon type on evolution, I thought that would be a great counter, since..."

"How much longer are you gonna stick around on the fourth floor? C'mon already - it's gotta be Fire Blast, right? Your whole theme is, like, fire and lava and stuff, so..."

"Don't rush him," Wally chided. "Picking the right TM is a big decision. And anyway, he has a Weezing, too. It was on the news one time..."

 _"Uuuggghhhh."_

Maxie closed his eyes for a moment, steeling himself. Taking two younger trainers around a department store was, as it turned out, far more of a chore than he'd bargained for. As useful as their input was (sometimes), he could feel the foundations of a headache coming on.

Slowly, he slipped both TMs back onto the rack. "Your friend is right," he declared, interrupting their argument, "and I think, for the time being, I'm willing to forego that decision entirely."

Brendan's eyes sparkled. "Does that mean we can go to the roof now?"

"I never asked you to wait," he replied sharply, "but yes."

Brendan let out a whoop, and all of a sudden, he felt the boy's hands digging into the small of his back, steering him along the aisle towards the stairs. The boy was a lot stronger than he looked.

"What are you-? Why, I - unhand me! Stop that, you-!"

Unable to stifle the laughter that was bubbling up, Wally followed behind them, wary of the possibility that the struggle might cause one or both of the two bickering trainers to fall. At least their squabbling gave him time to take a breather on the fifth floor. And then, finally, they'd made it up to the roof.

Blinking in the sunlight, Wally ignored Maxie's scolding and Brendan's adamant backtalk, and instead walked over to the railing with a growing smile on his face.

The view was amazing, just like he'd suspected it would be. To the east, he could make out the hazy, pointed shapes of buildings on another landmass across the sea - Mossdeep, he knew. The cove was glittering in the sunshine, and a pleasant breeze swirled around his hair. The air smelled like salt.

Somebody cleared their throat, and he jumped before realising Maxie had come to stand beside him, one hand holding his glasses fast to his face as a precaution against the height.

"I believe Brendan is already quite enamoured with some of the sale items," he remarked hintingly. "Perhaps you'd like to go take a look?"

"In a second," he replied, turning his gaze back out at the city, and closed his hands around the metal railing. Maxie was staring at something over his head, and Wally looked to the west. "Mount Chimney, right?"

"My team spends much of its time there."

"I thought so." He glanced over his shoulder, checking on Brendan - he was still distracted, arguing with someone over the price of a television. Wally gazed back at the distant volcano. "I can't get too close, or stay very long. But it looks nice from out here."

Maxie glanced down at him, momentarily taken off his guard. Luckily, he didn't need to ask. Wally was well used to questions.

"I can't breathe the air it puts out. It's really bad for me. So I stay clear, if I can." He turned, and Maxie clearly wasn't expecting it, because he hadn't bothered to look away. Their eyes met. "Brendan and May can go where they want. They both sent me souvenirs from Fallarbor, so I don't mind too much." He paused, holding the man's steady look for a moment, and smiled. "If I were a Pokémon, I think I'd be a Grass type."

Maxie blinked first, finding the boy's smile far too infectious for its own good, and looked away. He rubbed idly at his nose. "I'd be Fire and Ground, I think."

Listen to him, entertaining such frivolous notions! ...Perhaps he'd ask his Admins later. They were bound to have some interesting views on the subject.

"Brendan would be a Wooper."

Snickering, Wally could have sworn he'd heard Maxie laugh. Unwilling to let on that he'd picked up on it, he turned around and went to join Brendan. Someone had to let him know that _yes, in fact, televisions are generally pretty expensive._

Maxie watched the two for a moment over his shoulder, failing to hide a look of amusement. In a way, their dynamic did remind him of another one. It had been a long time, hadn't it?

He turned back to the open air and leaned on the rail, gazing out to sea. And then he frowned.

Something - two somethings - were splashing around down the cove. From here, he couldn't catch what they were shouting. But there was no mistaking what was floating next to them, its vast, _very recogniseable_ shape making a dark shadow in the water. Abruptly, Maxie turned to address his unlikely shopping companions.

Brendan was peering at him over the top of a huge, overstuffed Snorlax doll. Wally stopped mid-lecture, hurriedly getting up from his perch on an equally huge Venusaur and managing to look sufficiently embarrassed about it.

"We should head to the cove at once," Maxie announced curtly. "I believe all of us now have some _important business_ there."

Brendan blinked at him, the Snorlax toy slipping slightly from his arms, and Wally shuffled his feet uneasily.

Children were going to be the death of him, he decided.

* * *

 _I am still going with this thing! I took a couple of liberties with a few details but hopefully nothing should be too jarringly out of place? Anyway, onto the next..._


	5. picture day

It had started with a shout.

 _"What_ do you think you're doing? You're going to get in _so_ much trouble - do you have _any_ idea how much attention you're going to attract?"

Maxie was well-meaning, probably. Or perhaps he simply wanted to see Archie shamed, or perhaps his personal code of behaviour meant he couldn't stand to see his greatest rival goofing around in the sea like that.

They'd splashed him.

Or rather, Kyogre had splashed him, with one great sweep of its fin, because May had ordered it to. Maxie understood very little about what was really going on - just that Archie was attempting to humiliate him at a child's expense, and that using a Legendary Pokémon for this was a gross misfire of responsibility and that _someday_ he was absolutely going to _murder_ that idiot. In any case, it was certainly Archie's fault.

He stood there in shock, his arms raised comically at his sides, his hair plastered across his face, his glasses askew - and he gaped at them, the burn of outrage building.

Someone was snickering.

Brendan tried, and ultimately failed, to suppress his laughter. It burst out of him all at once, and that had been all it took for things to go downhill. Brendan's laughter was an infectious thing. Perhaps because he was close to the source, or perhaps because he'd dared to peek at Maxie's shocked face in that moment, Wally started giggling too.

May and Archie simultaneously joined the ranks of hysteria.

"Why, you unforgiveable bunch of _barbarians-!"_

 _"Water fight!"_ yelled Brendan. Both boys dumped their bags, dropped their new plushies onto the dry sand, grabbed an arm each, and _dragged_ him down the beach.

"What? No! Unhand me - don't you dare!"

For a second, Wally almost hesitated - they were still wearing their shoes, their clothes - but sometimes, he decided, you simply had to bow to spontaneity. He stuck his foot out.

 _"No-!"_

With one mighty heave, Wally and Brendan shoved Maxie forwards and he tripped face-first into the sea. Satisfied, they left him where he fell and splashed out into the water themselves, intent on greeting their friend now that Maxie had been dealt with.

"May!" Brendan shouted, punching the air and almost missing his footing. Stumbling, he let out another bark of laughter. "I knew you could tame it!"

"I had help!" came the response, and May slipped from the beast's back and dropped into the sea, paddling forwards until she found her feet in the shallower water.

They met halfway, hugging each other joyously and spinning a little until the water tangled their feet and they crashed into the waves. Wally stopped a little distance behind them, still laughing, but when the pair scrambled back up they immediately made a beeline for their friend.

"Oh - no, you're all wet! Don't-!" Too late, he tried to back off, and they caught him in a very unpleasant three-way hug.

Maxie, meanwhile, was at a loss. As he got to his hands and knees and lifted his face out of the water to take a sudden gasp of the salty air, he gave up on the idea that he'd ever stood a chance here. Mistakes had certainly been made. Interacting with children was one of them: they were unpredictable and illogical and so easily excited over silly things-

"Ahoy there, rival."

Scowling, Maxie lifted his head to snap some icy retort - but it died in his throat. Archie's hand hovered steadily in front of his face, and the man was grinning at him.

He'd lost this battle completely.

"Hello, Archie," he grated. Maxie grasped the hand that was being offered and begrudgingly allowed Archie to pull him upright, letting go as soon as he was stable and scraping his wet hair out of his eyes.

As neither of them had planned what to say next, they automatically looked to the one distraction available - the trio of kids, now engaged in an impromptu water fight at Brendan's behest. The instigator himself ran past, his feet pounding against the surf, and he was followed by both May and Wally who were calling out water-based threats they _fully_ intended to follow up on.

"So," Maxie began carefully, "you've trained Kyogre." He turned and began to make his way out of the water, his clothes dripping onto the sand.

"The scamp trained Kyogre," Archie corrected, flashing him a wary smirk and following close behind, "and it's hers to keep."

"Is that a good idea?"

For a moment, they both eyed the huge whale-like Pokémon floating idly in the deeper part of the cove, seemingly content with watching the children play.

"Well, I don't have any better ideas. Do you?" Archie managed a sidelong glance at his rival, and to Maxie's surprise, he looked sincere. Seeing that Maxie didn't seem to have an answer either, Archie relaxed a little and let out a soft sigh. He scratched his beard idly. "She's a headstrong little lass. If she can't handle the beast, I doubt anyone else in Hoenn has any better chances."

There was a high-pitched scream as May made a break for the deeper water and realised her mistake as the water slowed her down. Brendan caught up, and tackled her forwards into the sea.

Wally, lagging behind a little, doubled over to catch his breath.

"I'm soaking," Maxie snapped suddenly, changing the subject. "And so are they. It's irresponsible of you to spend your time gallivanting around with innocent children."

"Aye." Before Maxie could continue, Archie nodded over his shoulder, to where the oversized Venusaur and Snorlax dolls sat together on the beach. "And I suppose those boys bought the merchandise themselves, did they?"

Maxie flushed. "I was trying to rush them. They wouldn't leave until... You know how children are."

"Oh I do, now, do I?" Archie gave him a very pointed look. "Do _you?"_

 _"No,_ not really!" Maxie snapped. "I don't know anything about children! And that's precisely my point. This can't go on. I - I'm calling their parents." He began tugging off his jacket, making a disgusted face upon realising how heavy it had become now that it was waterlogged. "They need to know their children are so naive as to try and make nice with - with adult _ideologists_ like us. It's unheard of. They're the _exact_ reason we agreed on membership age limits, Archie. One of the few things we agreed on after quitting that _farce_ of a team was that we weren't going to brainwash a bunch of underage impressionables. I'm calling their parents, and that's _that."_

Sensing that Maxie had momentarily run out of steam, Archie opened his mouth to chip in - and hesitated, his gaze fixing on a point a little further out than they were.

"Hey," he called after a moment. "Feeling shipshape over there?"

Wally stayed where he was, still doubled over, knee-deep in the ocean. Slowly, his head gave a small, less than convincing nod.

May and Brendan seemed to have realised what was going on, looking back at him in concern. Archie took a step - but a sodden coat slapped him in the face as his rival unburdened himself and splashed forwards.

"Easy - I'll come and get you! Deep breaths!"

* * *

May rubbed her friend's back slowly, kneeling beside him as he rested on the sand. "How do you feel, Wally? Do you need anything?"

The pale boy shook his head, his mouth momentarily occupied with the inhaler.

Brendan groaned. "I didn't realise we were overdoing it... We're sorry, Wally."

Wally quickly shook his head again, a bit more vigorously this time. He took a shaky breath of air and muttered, "'M okay. Happens sometimes."

A little way off, Maxie rummaged through Brendan's bag, cursing the boy's vague instructions. Under the Potions, _indeed._ Had the boy never heard of travelling light? ...Ah, there it was. He gave the towel a sharp tug and displaced most of the bag's contents out onto the sand, quickly hurrying back to the boy. Maxie wrapped the towel around Wally's shoulder and earned himself a grateful nod in response.

"Did you bring any spare clothes?" he asked, his usual clipped tone sounding a little softer than usual. Wally shook his head. _"Hm._ Does anyone else-?"

"We have plenty of spares." Archie gave his rival a pointed look. "In our _base."_

"Right, then. Someone should fetch them." He straightened up, taking the wet coat that Archie handed back to him. Another day, he'd have jumped at an excuse to see the rival hideout, but right now, there was a sick child in front of him. _Obviously_ that took precedence. They weren't _monsters._

May raised her hand to volunteer. but Archie got there first.

"We'll all go," he said firmly, earning himself a wary look from his rival.

"Um..." Wally looked cowed. "It... it's not that bad..."

"I'll carry the boy! Maxie, call the lad's parents. Brendan, I'm sure you can find their number, aye?" Before Maxie could argue or question his vague invitation, Archie turned his attention to May. "Scamp, call Kyogre. It can ferry us over."

May nodded, her eyes shining with amusement. "Gee, they're really panicking, huh?" She noticed Wally's uncomfortable expression and her smile dropped. "Hey - I promise Archie won't hurt you. Or drop you. He's strong, but he's nice!"

The boy paused, contemplating this. "...I... It's not that bad. I don't need to be carried around," he muttered. "I'm feeling better already... I just needed my inhaler. I have these all the time..." Wally's face was slowly turning from ghostly-pale to an embarrassed pink, and May laughed nervously. "Please don't let them call my parents, May. This is silly."

"Sorry, Wally." She sighed, glancing over to Brendan and Maxie. The two were hunched over Brendan's PokéNav, scrolling through phone numbers, and the adult pulled out a battered-looking red cell phone. "We just have to deal with it. It can't be that bad, right?"

"I haven't called them s-since I left," he admitted suddenly, and May faltered.

"How irresponsible," came a remark from his right. "All the more reason for me to call them now, don't you think?" Maxie drew level with them, his phone pressed against his ear and his other hand placed on his hip while he waited for someone to answer.

"You don't know what you're doing," Wally warned faintly, burying his face in his hands.

"Ah - hello. Is this one of Wally's carers or family members? ...You're his father? Good. I have your son here, and he appears to have suffered an attack - no, quite mild, I think. He seems alright. I thought I should report..." He trailed off and fussed with his glasses. "Maxie. Of Team Magma. I- oh! No, you have the situation confused, I'm afraid -" His eyes widened. Down on the sand beside him, Wally gave a distressed groan into his hands. "You're mistaken. I wasn't involved in - well, I suppose I - but that's not relevant to the situation at hand, sir, if you would please listen to... Who else? What do you mean, _who else?_ I resent that implication...!" A beat. "Yes... _sir._ Two friends of his. May and Brendan, I believe. But I assure you, they are _completely_ safe-!"

May stared up at Maxie as he continued to argue ineffectively against whatever Wally's father was saying, and tried not to smile. When the phone gave an audible click and Maxie held it away from his ear, examining the screen with an irritated glare, she rolled her eyes. "Shouldn't have told him who you were. You and Archie don't exactly have a great reputation."

Maxie snapped his phone shut with a little more force than was really needed. "Wally, your father is going to meet you in Lilycove this evening. Considering how concerned he sounded, I think it would be best if we supervised you until he got here. Prone to disappearing acts, are we?"

"I-it's not like that..." He shook his head, glancing apologetically at May. "They're gonna tell your dad, too, you know. And yours, Brendan."

Brendan offered his hand to Wally, pulling the other boy up from the sand. To Wally's further embarrassment, Brendan didn't let go when he was on his feet. "Sorry, guys. I couldn't just say no. He was really insistent." He sighed. "I kinda thought he knew what he was doing."

May stood up and dusted herself down. "Well, too late to do anything about it now. Anyway, when they see we're fine, they'll let us off for sure!"

* * *

The day passed with a kind of agonising slowness, the type that stemmed from apprehension. They kept themselves occupied, exploring the Aqua base with May playing confident leader, and tried not to think too hard about what Wally's parents were going to say that evening. It was easier said than done.

At least it gave them all time to change, May had pointed out, and once Archie pointed them to the bunks, May and Brendan had practically turned the place upside down looking for suitable clothes. The novelty of getting to wear Aqua uniforms hadn't been lost on any of them.

"These shorts are _way_ too big," Brendan complained, tugging at them to keep them on his hips. "Wally, where'd you find that belt thing?"

"I think it's a sash," Wally replied uncertainly, tying a clumsy knot in the material. It was never going to win him any fashion awards, but at least his pants weren't threatening to drop around his ankles as soon as he let go. "Uh. It was in that drawer over there..."

May span in a circle, craning her neck to try and see her reflection. She'd been all too eager to get rid of the clingy wetsuit (which she'd _also_ borrowed from Team Aqua), but she'd decided to pretend to have forgotten about leaving her regular outfit neatly-folded under one of the beds. Missing out on this would be unacceptable. And anyway - this was a show of solidarity, she told herself, and it would make the boys feel better. Even if her stockings were threatening to bunch up in her shoes.

"Got it!" Brendan announced, waving the scarf-like sash and quickly tying it around his waist. "Ugh, it's too long. I'm gonna trip on this thing..."

"Tie it in a bow," May suggested. She paused. "Oh! Quick, Wally, pass me a bandana!"

Wally blinked at his reflection, idly swiping a bandana off the bed next to him and tossing it to her. Despite his misgivings about the coming evening and the lingering shake in his hands from the incident earlier, this had been a welcome distraction. And, he had to admit, it _was_ kind of fun to dress up.

"We look like pirates," he observed.

"Yeah! Isn't it awesome?" Brendan vaulted over a bed to join him, dropping his arm around the other boy's shoulders and grabbing May's arm to drag her in, too. "Look at us! We're like... the next generation of Team Aqua," he said, his voice dropping an octave and taking on a gravelly tone. "Arr! Environmentalism!"

May snorted, tying the black bandana in place of her usual striped bow. "You're such a dork, Brendan." Her hand snuck up behind his head, her fingers making bunny-ears on his reflection. "We _do_ look cool, though. I wonder if Archie will let us keep this stuff?"

Wally smiled, tilting his head. "Maybe they won't miss these, at least." He reached up to tug his bandana a little further back, frowning as it made his hair stick out at a comical angle. "I don't think I did this right."

The sound of a teleporter activating made the trio jump, and they quickly turned to face Archie with guilty looks as he stared them down.

His face cracked into a grin. _"Bahahah!_ Well, I'll be keelhauled! Don't you three buccaneers all make those rags look menacing? You put my Grunts to shame."

Brendan clamped a hand over his mouth, the pirate slang making him tremble with effort to keep from laughing.

"Th-thank you for letting us borrow this stuff," Wally piped up quickly, trying to cover for him. "We appreciate it."

Archie waved dismissively. "Naw, they won't be missed. I had a deckhand run your wet clothes over to Lilycove to get 'em dry cleaned. I expect your parents won't be happy if your clothes are salty and damp, eh?"

The teleporter flashed again, and this time it was Maxie who stepped through, looking irritated. "For heaven's sake, Archie, if you're going to allow your greatest rival into your secret base of operations, at least have the foresight to accompany him!"

"Hm?" He glanced over his shoulder. "Did ya get lost, Maxie?"

"Don't be ridiculous," the Magma Leader snapped, drawing level with him and trying not to look uncomfortable. He, too, had been forced to wear borrowed clothing until his dried - May supposed Archie had talked him into it, somehow, because there was no way he'd volunteered to wear a striped shirt and a battered-looking black captain's jacket by himself. "I'm simply pointing out you're being far too relaxed about this."

Brendan, upon seeing Maxie's new attire, lost his battle against hysterics and toppled backwards onto one of the empty beds, cackling helplessly. Maxie scowled.

"Archie, this is precisely what I was talking about. These children are getting far too familiar with your team. Don't you have any outfits lying around that _aren't_ branded with that ridiculous insignia?" He fussed with his overcoat, attempting to fasten it at the front and looking dismayed when he realised the buttons were missing.

Archie tutted, going to stand behind May and looking over her head into the mirror to give her reflection an evaluative look. "Aye, but they chose these themselves. They're not really members, Maxie, so what's the harm in it?"

"It's nonsense," Maxie grumbled, folding his arms petulantly. "Besides, they would all look much better in red."

"Oh- _ho?"_

"Don't look at me like that. I simply meant blue isn't their colour."

May giggled.

Wally scooped up his satchel from where Brendan had dropped it amongst the rest of their discarded belongings, and began to rummage through it. "Do you want me to take your picture, May?"

"Wait, wait - set the timer! We can all get in on it!" Brendan snatched the camera from his hands and fiddled with the buttons. "Where's the best place to take one?"

Archie opened his mouth, then looked surprised as May beat him to it.

"Archie! Can we pose on the submarine? _Please?"_

"Well, I-"

"Don't be ridiculous," Maxie interrupted. "I won't have you letting children play around on dangerous machinery. Take one by the entrance - it's far more scenic." He pushed his glasses further up his nose, realised the Aqua Leader was staring at him and looking far too amused for his own good, and frowned. "What! I simply meant you plastered the biggest of your silly banners there. Don't read into it."

The trio closed in around the two team leaders, herding them enthusiastically towards the teleporter, and the two adults didn't find it in them to protest.

* * *

 _A/N: Stay tuned for the next chapter, when the angry parent brigade arrives and the proverbial hits the fan._

 _Also, made a minor edit to one of the previous chapters, upon realising Swellows are not anywhere near as big as I thought they were. Her parents now flew off on a Tropius, for the record. (I'm now also dubious about Steven and his Skarmory, but maybe it's magnets? Pokémon, how do they work, old memes etc etc.)_

 _Hope you're enjoying this runaway train so far!_


End file.
